Ireland: An Bord Pleanála (ABP), a government planning body, will decide by 8 August 2017 on a planning appeal by Irish Cements about its proposed upgrade at its Limerick cement plant. The Euro10m upgrade includes the development of land to facilitate on site handling, storage and introduction of alternative fuels with conveyor kiln, storage tanks, uploading station, handling building, cooling tower and associated ancillary work. If the appeal is successful then the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will decide if the cement producer can have a licence to burn waste fuels at the site, according to the Limerick Leader newspaper. Irish Cements has faced local opposition against its plans for the site.

UK: The Environmental Services Association has called for the UK planning system to be more closely aligned with the so-called Circular Economy. It has laid out a number of recommendations in a report entitled ‘Planning for a Circular Economy.’ In its report it outlines key aspects of the current planning system that it says can frustrate the waste industry.

“Many local authorities need to let go of the strict control culture that has prevailed in one form or another since the ‘landfill era’ and instead adopt a more responsive approach to planning for waste management that better recognises the variable and dynamic nature of the space in which our industry now operates. Our industry increasingly resembles that of any other logistics business with materials moved around as markets dictate,” commented ESA’s Policy Advisor Stephen Freeland. He added that few other sectors face the same planning and political obsession about the origin of material or commodities, and where these should be transported to, as the waste industry.

Israel: The Hiriya Recycling Park near Tel Aviv has launched a refuse-derived fuel (RDF). The new plant cost US$111m and it will produce about 500t/day of RDF, according to the Jerusalem Post. Partners on the project include the Hiriya Recycling Park, the Dan Municipal Sanitation Association, Nesher Israel Cement Enterprises and the Veridis environmental service corporation. RDF from the plant will be use to substitute about 20% of the Nesher cement plant’s fuel.

China: Huaxin Cement built three co-processing projects for its cement plants in 2016. It also signed contracts to build 10 new projects and six new projects were under construction. The cement producer said in its annual report that it had 25 co-processing projects operating or under construction with a capacity of 5Mt/yr. It added that its waste disposal per tonne of clinker production was ahead of its competitors in the sector. It noted that its had increased its usage of alternative fuels in the second half of the year following an increase in the cost of coal. Huaxin Cement, like other Chinese cement producers, has been actively enacting government-promoted supply side reforms following a poor market in 2015.